MARPLE -- There was a time, not long ago, when Archbishop Carroll wasn't considered anything more than a Philadelphia Catholic League pushover.

The recent years have been tough on the decorated program. But after a sluggish, one-win campaign in 2011, the Patriots vowed to improve drastically this season. The drop in PIAA classification certainly helped matters some.

Saturday afternoon at Cardinal O'Hara, the Patriots hung with West Catholic, the heavy favorite to win the division and perhaps compete for a state title. In the end, though, the Burrs were too much to handle, particularly in the fourth quarter of a 30-7 decision that gave West Catholic the PCL Class AA championship.

No one outside of the Carroll locker room expected the Patriots to do much. On two occasions, however, they kept pace with West Catholic, but were simply worn down in the later portion of those games. West Catholic clung to a 14-7 advantage early in the final stanza of this second meeting before scoring 16 straight points to close things out.

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"When we came into the season, people were saying that Carroll is not a threat in the 2-A," linebacker Evan Harvey said. He was in on several tackles. "We had our bumps in the road and we had our growing pains along the way, but this team is real tough. We played these guys tough the first time and came out here today and played them tougher this time. It was 14-7 going into the fourth, and we never let up. We kept going after them. There's nothing to be upset about today. Our guys played (really well) today."

The game-changing moment occurred early in the third quarter. On third down and long, the Burrs executed a perfectly drawn up wide receiver screen to Shaquille James, who darted 33 yards inside Carroll territory. It was a play that probably shouldn't have developed. The Patriots had trained all week to stop that particular play, and nearly had James bottled up behind the line of scrimmage.

"We ran into a front where we blitzed a (line)backer to (James') side. We practiced it all week and planned to jump the inside route," Carroll coach Joe Powel said. "They did a good job executing there. It gave them a big first down."

Moments later, Greg White sprinted to the end zone for his third and final rushing score of the afternoon. White, who is 5-9 and 183 pounds of muscle, racked up 186 yards on 26 carries. He had 150 yards at halftime.

Though the Patriots had a difficult time containing White, they put forth an admirable performance against West Catholic, which had a big advantage in size on the lines. Shawn Collins, a 6-2, 245-pound tackle, held his own against the Burrs' Jaryd Jones-Smith, who's listed as 6-7, 350 pounds.

"We knew that this could have been our last game, so it was all or nothing," Harvey said.

Ryan Boornazian's two-yard scoring run early in the second quarter gave the Patriots (4-5) their only lead of the day. On the ensuing drive, White broke off a 44-yard touchdown run to put the Burrs (6-3) back on top, 14-7. In his final game as a Patriot, quarterback Sal Bello threw for 92 yards and was sacked four times.